Tyler Naquin’s perfect, one-hop throw to catcher Tony Wolters with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday retired Bowie’s Sharlon Schoop to end the game and secure a 7-6 RubberDucks victory at Prince George’s Stadium. The pivotal play at the plate came after Buck Britton singled up the middle off Akron right-hander Shawn Armstrong.

To start off The WAR Room, Jim Piascik will be going back to 2013 and going over last year's performances. Ideally this is something that would happen in the offseason, but since he was not able to compute these stats earlier, they have to run now. Join Jim as he goes over the 2013 Akron Aeros/RubberDucks, a team that was filled with high-end prospects like Carlos Moncrief, Jesus Aguilar, Jose Ramirez, and many more.

In Adam Plutko's first start, he had the run prevention without the dominance. In his second start, he had the strikeouts, but not the run prevention. So what happened in Plutko's third start Thursday night? The 2013 11th round draft pick and College World Series champion put it all together. Join Jim Piascik as he looks at Plutko's overall brilliance, a few notable season debuts (including Clint Frazier day), and much more as he takes you Around the Farm.

After splitting three series and losing one outright in 2014, the Akron RubberDucks were looking for a victory to set the tone for the series. Akron was able to do just that taking the opening game of the three-game series with a 3-2 win on Thursday. Akron’s hurlers have now allowed just eight runs in the past four games, and continued that success on Thursday as Will Roberts, Tyler Sturdevant and Kyle Crockett combined to throw a six hit, two-run performance.

It is the first Minor Happenings of the year! The IBI's Tony Lastoria dives right into things with tons of information on Indians prospects throughout the system. He talks about Jesus Aguilar's start and how the Indians are experimenting with him a little to potentially add more versatility, provides some insight and thoughts on recent pickup Duke von Schamann, provide lots of injury details on all of the walking wounded throughout the system, provides a bevy of comments from the front office on the likes of Kyle Crockett and others, and also tons of insight into players like Trevor Bauer, Giovanny Urshela, Erik Gonzalez, Nellie Rodriguez and more.

Thanks to some bad weather Tuesday night, Akron, Carolina, and Lake County had doubleheaders Wednesday. With seven games on the slate throughout the system, there was plenty of action on the minor league front. Join Jim Piascik as he breaks it all down, including yet another dominant Trevor Bauer start, Ryan Merritt continuing to put up strong outings, and much more as he takes you on a lengthy trip Around the Farm.

After snowfall postponed Tuesday's matchup, the Akron RubberDucks braved the elements Wednesday to take on the Trenton Thunder in a double header. Akron took the first game, but lost the second 1-0 as both offenses stalled. While the RubberDucks pitching staff performed well in both games, the Thunder still clinched the series victory.

The Akron RubberDucks made their first appearance at Canal Park over the past week, debuting their new mascot and the rebranded franchise (for pictures from the event, see the article IBI had on Saturday). Unfortunately for the RubberDucks, the team dropped four of seven over the past week, falling to 5-6 on the season. There were still great performances from Bryson Myles, the left-handed relievers, and much more. Join Jim Piascik with the weekly Akron notebook, Burning Tread with the RubberDucks.

While they kept up with the opposition in total hits, the Akron RubberDucks lost to the Trenton Thunder, 2-0, Monday. Duke von Schamann pitched five no-hit innings, but they came in relief of Gabriel Arias, who gave up two runs on five hits over four innings pitched.Trenton starter Bryan Mitchell controlled the Akron offense all day, going six innings of shutout baseball and giving up just four hits while striking out 12 RubberDucks.

The IBI Hot List returns this week with the first edition recapping the hot performances to date in the Indians system. This listing is a quick rundown through the hottest and some of the coldest players in the Indians system over the past seven days with news and insight into their performances. The IBI's Tony Lastoria ranks the performances of them all, including names like Aguilar, Bauer, Myles, Merritt, Lucas, Head, Ferrell and more!

Bowie’s Garabez Rosa smacked a three-run home run during a six-run fourth inning Sunday afternoon, and the Baysox slipped by the Akron RubberDucks, 7-5, before a crowd of 4,208, at Canal Park. Rosa, the EL leader in RBI, increased his total to 14 on the season with an opposite field homer to right field off Akron starter Kyle Davies (0-1).

The Akron RubberDucks won a tightly contested game against the Bowie Baysox Saturday, 6-5. Will Roberts pitched 5.1 innings while Bowie starter Zach Davies was forced out of the game after being hit by a come-backer in the second inning. Bryson Myles hit a key two-run homer while super-prospect Francisco Lindor added a triple as Akron finished with five extra-base hits.

Akron RubberDucks shortstop Francisco Lindor led off the bottom of the 13th with a walk off home run to center field Friday night, handing the RubberDucks a hard-fought, 2-1 victory over the Bowie Baysox at Canal Park. It was Lindor’s second homer of the season, and snapped an 0-12 slide at the plate for the Indians star prospect. The timely blast ended the marathon game at 3-hours and 49-minutes.

As a soon-to-be 24-year-old just now debuting at Double-A, Joe Wendle is bound to have some questions about his future. So far in 2014, Wendle is doing what he does best to answer those questions -- hitting -- and Thursday night was no different. Joining Wendle is a catcher in Lake County continuing his development, some rough pitching performances throughout the system, and much more. Join Jim Piascik as he takes you Around the Farm.

The RubberDucks stranded ten runners in Thursday's home opening loss against the Frederick Keys 6-3. Akron outhit the Keys, but were unable to capitalize on their opportunities ending the night batting 1-10 with runners in scoring position. RubberDucks top pitching prospect, Cody Anderson, also had some troubles in his first home start of the season.

Death, taxes (which Jim Piascik finished last night), and #WashTime making noise on the field. Anyone familiar with Cleveland's minor league system knows to expect great things when LeVon Washington is on the field and Wednesday was no exception. Joining Washington is a Lake County pitcher showing some surprising swing and miss in his game, a pair of organizational debuts with the RubberDucks, and more. Join Jim as he takes you Around the Farm.

The Akron RubberDucks jumped out to an early lead and ended up beating Altoona, 5-4, Wednesday. Starter Gabriel Arias pitched five strong innings while Akron collected nine hits as a team. Next up, the RubberDucks are set to head home to Akron to debut new uniforms and a renovated stadium.

Altoona Curve outfielder Willy Garcia was hit-less in his last eight at bats, including five strikeouts; however, in the bottom of the ninth inning, he made-up for his poor start with a walk off, solo home run off of Tyler Sturdevant to seal the victory for the Curve 4-3 over the Akron RubberDucks. The loss drops the RubberDucks to below .500 for the season (2-3).

The Akron RubberDucks made it through their rain soaked first week at .500, splitting a four-game series with the Binghamton Mets. Strong performances from top prospects like Francisco Lindor, Cody Anderson, and Joe Wendle led the way during the RubberDucks' first week, but that was far from the whole story. Join Jim Piascik as he bids adieu to the old Akron "Launching off with the Aeros" notebook and introduces the new edition: Burning Tread with the RubberDucks.

The Akron RubberDucks rallied late, but fell just short losing 5-4 to the Binghamton Mets on Sunday to split the season opening series. In his season debut, starter Will Roberts made his return to the RubberDucks after a rocky 2013 season started 2014 much better giving Akron a good opportunity to come away with a win, but fell just short.

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!